Internet download boss avoids extradition to US

A bid by the United States government to extradite the founder of an internet site called Megaupload from New Zealand for alleged online piracy has been delayed for a second time.

The lawyers for Kim Dotcom says the case will not be heard until August next year.

The extradition case was originally launched after Dotcom's arrest in January for alleged online piracy, but it's been delayed amid legal wrangling over evidence.

A spokeswoman for Dotcom's Auckland-based barrister Paul Davison said the court had rescheduled the hearing again to August 2013. She did not provide a reason for the change.

Police are also investigating New Zealand's foreign intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), for illegally spying on Dotcom ahead of his arrest in a raid on his Auckland mansion in January.

Prime Minister John Key earlier this year issued a public apology to Dotcom, acknowledging the German national should have been off-limits to the agency because he holds New Zealand residency.

It was the latest in a string of setbacks for the case including a court ruling that the search warrants used in the raid on his mansion were illegal. Dotcom, remains free on bail in New Zealand.

The 38-year-old's Megaupload file-sharing empire, which at its peak had 50 million daily visitors and accounted for four percent of all Internet traffic, was shut down after the raid and Dotcom has indicated he will seek damages.

Dotcom denies US allegations the Megaupload sites netted more than 175 million US dollars in criminal proceeds and cost copyright owners more than 500 million US dollars by offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and other content.

The US Justice Department and FBI want Dotcom to face charges of racketeering fraud, money laundering and copyright theft in a US court, with a potential sentence of 20 years if he is convicted.